The Choice
by Helen Nurse
Summary: Worst moment of my life was having to choose one of them. I had seen all of the possibilities and permutations, and chose my future. Why, why! The elders that saw all of the worlds and universes were cruel to make us see the worlds in their beauty and purity. Eight destinations. Eight possible futures, and I could only choose one. I wouldn't remember until it was too late. /On hold
1. Before the Beginning

There were eight buttons.

Worst moment of my life was having to choose one of them. I had seen all of the possibilities and permutations, and chose my future. Why, why! The elders that saw all of the worlds and universes were cruel to make us see the worlds in their beauty and purity. Eight destinations. Eight possible futures, and I could only choose one.

I wouldn't remember until it was too late.

I pressed the second button to the left on the bottom row as a single, sparkling tear made a path down my face. As I closed my eyes, I forgot everything.

* * *

As she pressed the button, her short, dark chocolate hair floated in a nonexistent wind and her pale, clear skin glowed as if it was bathed in the last rays of sunlight on a clear summer's evening. Her milky jade green eyes held back all but one sparkling tear that fell onto the board, splashing onto the tag underneath the button she had pressed. The tag read: Loved by the Detective, but never able to tell him you have the same emotions.


	2. Johnny

I woke up and groaned, another impossible dream of some other world ending with gold light woke me up, this time I heard the whisper "You meet again today." I shook my head and prepared myself for another day of dealing with brits in London. I especially was not looking forward to seeing a certain consulting detective that made me feel like a complete dunce whenever he opens his mouth. I drank some coffee and prepared for another day of running a bookshop on Baker Street.

I put on my navy blue leggings, black sundress, and tan biker jacket. I brushed my hair and gathered my bag. I then walked into Speedy's Sandwich shop and ordered my usual breakfast, a mushroom omelet with cheddar cheese and hot green tea. I also ordered a wrapped corned beef sandwich to go. When I sat down to eat, I was perfectly contented to watch the people go by until I saw Sherlock and a short blond man walk into the shop.

* * *

"Dewis!"exclaimed John Watson as he saw his oldest friend sitting at a corner booth with her face looking out the window at all of the passers-by.

Dewis Roghnú turned towards him and she looked at him first not recogising him, then a smile spread across her face "Johnny?" her face suddenly morphed into a face of anger he knew all too well. "John Hamish Watson, Where the hell have you been for the past fourteen years?" she screamed before addressing the man behind him "Hello, Prick."

John looked at Sherlock, who'd stood behind him and looked back at Dewis "You two know each other?"

Sherlock looked back at John with one eyebrow raised "_Hamish_?"

John sighed in exasperation "Yes, that's my middle name. Happy now?"

"I was hoping to use it as an excuse to view your birth records." Sherlock pouted.

"And why would you like to do that?"

Sherlock shrugged "Because I could?"

"Ok. Enough. John, you are coming with me. Sherlock can manage without you for a bit." Dewis said as she pulled John out the door and down the street to her book shop.

Sherlock chuckled at the antics of the acerbic book seller. She blushed whenever he was near him, but she refused to act on her feelings, as if she wasn't allowed to. He shrugged and put her wrapped sandwich in a paper bag and added some potato crisps and a bottle of sweet tea. He boxed up her omelet and walked over to the entrance of her shop and waited while his associate finished catching up with his friend.

* * *

"Dewis! What's going on?" John said as his mecurial friend started to cry once they were in the back room of her shop.

"Fourteen years, John. I thought you had died, or that I said something that made you hate me forever." she started to cry and John pulled her into a hug.

"Ssshh. I don't hate you. How could I hate my California girl?" he gently wiped away her tears. "I lost your number until I went through my stuff recently. I'm really sorry."

"I forgive you. So what did you do to get yourself shot in the leg?"

"I was a medic in Afganistan, and I got shot."

"Oh. I wish I could have been there with you."

John looked at the woman he'd loved when he was an exchange student in secondary school in California. "No, you wouldn't have been able to survive there. The only reason I did is because of your picture. I still have it, see?" He pulled out a picture of a younger version of her in a white sundress, black sunglasses, and a wide-brimmed straw hat laughing as she balanced on a rock in a river.

She hugged John and whispered in his ear "I missed you so much."

He whispered back "I missed you too."

* * *

After about an hour, John left and Sherlock walked into Books and Quills to find Dewis.

After he found her organizing the books in the mystery section muttering about not grabbing her lunch.

"I'm sorry I upset you." Sherlock said when he was behind her.

"Jesus Christ!" she yelped as she dropped the Nancy Drew mystery she was shelving before whirling around to find Sherlock holding a styrofoam take-out box and a paper bag. "What the hell's this?"

"Your leftover breakfast and your lunch. I also took the liberty of getting you sea salt and vinegar potato crisps and sweet tea."

"Th-thank you." she stuttered as she looked into his ever changing blue-green eyes. "Care to join me? I'm not busy at the moment."

He smiled "I'll put the food in the break room and come help you finish restocking before we eat."

"Ok." She blushed as she tried not to think romantic thoughts about the tall, curly dark-haired man in front of her. She finished re-stocking her entire shop in a quarter of the time because of the detective helping her.

Then while they were eating lunch, her only employee Jim walked in, late.

"Jim, if you want to keep your job, then I suggest you stop loitering around and Get To Work!" Dewis explained, shuddering as he turned towards her with a maniacal grin on his face.

"Of course. I'll just do some inventory, shall I? Sherlock! I'm surprised to see you here."

"Moriarty. Pleased to see you, but I've got a mystery to solve." Sherlock held a very fake grin as he pulled Dewis out of her store and started to pull her towards 221 B.

"Sherlock? Just because I can be happy around you now doesn't mean you can pull me willy-nilly all over LONDON."

He stopped in front of 221 B. "You employ the most dangerous criminal in London as a book boy?"

"Jim?" Dewis was surprised to hear this bit of information. "He might be scary as all get out, but he's no criminal."

"He tried to blow me and John up last week." Sherlock replied with no emotion coloring his voice.

"Shit." Dewis spat out as she looked at the sidewalk.

"My feelings precisely." She looked up to see his face carrying the slightest hint of a smile.

"So, do I fire him, or let him continue working at my store? Because I'm afraid, and John won't be able to protect me without hurting himself. And neither of us want that."

"Indeed."

"So what do I do?"


End file.
